Police on hunt for violent rapist
By Hal Scheurich
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LOXLEY, Alabama (WALA) — Details of a violent and frightening crime came from Loxley Police Tuesday, October 25, 2022. Police said a woman was beaten and raped inside her home. According to investigators, the suspect forced his way in after banging on her door and yelling, “Police!” It happened five days earlier off County Road 68 and the suspect is still on the loose.
Loxley Police released two sketches. They portray the man investigators said committed an unspeakable crime. It was after 4:00 a.m. Thursday, October 20, 2022 when a homeowner was woken from her sleep by loud banging on her front door. That banging was accompanied by a man’s voice, yelling, “Police!” She began to open the door when police said the suspect forced his way in and began his assault.
“There was an assault that took place. He supposedly struck her with some sort of an instrument she described as a club or a small bat and then some other struggles took place,” said Lt. Doug Phillips with Loxley Police.
Investigators said the suspect then raped the woman inside her home, at one point during the assault telling her he’d had her under surveillance. Police hope that information and other details recalled by the victim, along with her description of the assailant will help in identifying the suspect. But why wait five days to release the information to the public?
“One of the main reasons is we want to make sure we have everything exactly correct. We don’t want to put misinformation out there,” Phillips explained. “We wanted to get this rendering of the suspect completed before we sent it out. That takes time. ALEA had to get someone down here for us. That took several days. We also wanted to give the victim a minute to think about what happened, go through the steps of everything and give us every possible detail that she could and sometimes that takes a day or two.”
While no other cases like this have been reported around the county, those who live in the area of County Road 68 are very uneasy with an accused rapist still on the loose.
“As a female, it’s concerning, especially me being a single mother and that is real concerning because there are people that I know as women who lives around where I’m at,” said Lindsey Lawrence who lives nearby. “It’s very concerning to us women, especially coming from a man who’s impersonating a police officer.”
Investigators said the suspect didn’t identify himself as being with any particular agency, but was wearing the same style, dark blue cargo pants commonly worn by law enforcement and a polo shirt with a badge emblem on the front. This, and yelling the word, “police” could be enough to warrant an additional charge of impersonating a police officer.
Police said if someone knocks on your door saying they’re police, you should always ask who they’re with and the reason for the visit. If you’re still unsure, call 9-1-1 to verify an officer has been sent to your location.
The victim in this case was treated at the hospital for the sexual assault and required staples in her head. If you know anything about this crime or think you know who the suspect is, call Loxley Police.
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